Floor waxing apparatus



Aug. 1, 1967 J. SKURDELIS FLOOR WAXING APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 1, 1965 PATENT AGENT Aug. 1, 1967 J. SKURDELIS 3,333,293

FLOOR WAXI NG APPARATUS Filed Feb. 1, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 V EN TOR PA! EN T AGENT United States Patent 3,333,293 FLGGR WAXING APPARATUS John Skurdelis, 102 Wendell Ave., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Feb. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 429,587 9 Claims. (Cl. -561) This invention relates to a device for manually applying a finisher, such as paste wax, to a floor surface.

The task of waxing floors by hand is a laborious one and to obtain a good finish, a great deal of care must be taken to ensure that a uniform but thin coating is applied. Many known applicators of the type which have a long operating handle connected to a wax distributing head for spreading either liquid or paste wax are presently in use. Some of the known types of applicators require loading from a can of wax, which is usually messy and frequently involves some waste. Moreover, known applicators, in the main, are relatively complex in structure, and as a result, quite expensive. Some applicators now in use also have the disadvantage of being bulky so that it is difiicult to polish under the edge of low furniture or other articles.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact, inexpensive wax applying device which can be quickly and conveniently prepared for use.

According to the present invention, there is provided an applicator including front and back plate members hingedly attached along adjacent transverse edges, the mernbers having cartridge engaging bottom surfaces and being pivotable with respect to each other between first and second positions. When the plate members are in the first position, the bottom surfaces define an obtuse angle therebetween of less than 180, whereby a spaced for partially receiving a wax cartridge is provided under the plate members. When the plate members are in the second position, the angle between the bottom surfaces becomes at least 180. The plate members are provided against their remote edges with a cartridge attaching means, and an operating handle is fixed to one of the members and extends upwardly therefrom.

The wax cartridge according to the present invention comprises an elongated flexible upper panel of Wax impermeable material, and an elongated flexible floor engaging panel of wax permeable material, the panels being like oriented and joined together along a line adjacent their peripheries to define a closed pocket therebetween. A charge of floor wax fills the pocket and is maintained substantially oval in cross-section by the panels. Attaching means, which is designed to cooperate with the at; taching means on the plate members, is provided along the longitudinal edges of the panels for fixing the cartridge to the applicator.

Accordingly, the cartridge can be attached below the plate members with the longitudinal edges held adjacent the remote edges thereof, the upper part of the cartridge projecting up into the angular space defined by the bottom surfaces of the plate members when in their first position and the lower surface of the cartridge defined by the floor engaging panel projecting below the plate members. Thus, by pushing down on the operating handle, the cartridge is squeezed between the plate members and the floor so that the wax is forced through the wax permeable panel onto the floor. Moreover, pressure on the handle also forces the plate-like members towards their second position so that the panels of the cartridge are stretched across their width, which stretching tends to flatten the oval cross-section of the charge of wax and assists in forcing the wax through the wax permeable panel. i

In the drawings, which show an embodiment of the present invention, by way of example:

3,333,293 Patented Aug. 1, 1967 FIGURE 1 is a top view of the waxing applicator according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a back elevational view of the applicator shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of the applicator shown in FIGURE 1 when in the above-mentioned first position showing a wax cartridge according to the present invention attached thereto in broken lines;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 when in the above-mentioned second position;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the cartridge;

FIGURE 6 is a section view of the cartridge as viewed from line VI-VI of FIGURE 5 and FIGURE 7 is a section view through a sponge element which can be utilized with the device shown in FIGURES 1 to 4.

In FIGURES 1 to 4, reference numerals 10 and 11 denote a front plate member and a back plate member, respectively. An upwardly extending operating handle 12 is connected to front plate 10 and an upwardly extending loading handle 13 is connected to the back plate member 11. Each plate member is provided with attaching means 14 for connecting a wax cartridge 18 below the plate members (FIGURE 3).

The plate members 10 and 11, which may be pressed from sheet metal, can be identical in shape as can be readily seen in FIGURES l, 3, and 4. The plate members are elongated in the transverse sense of the device and at their adjacent or inner longitudinally extending edges, they are provided with upwardly turned flanges 15, 15. At opposite ends of the flanges hinge means 16 are provided which pivotally connect the plate 10 and 11 together, the hinge means including on each flange, upwardly extending lugs rolled to receive common pins 17. Extending outwardly from flanges 15, 15 at slightly more than with respect thereto, the plate members have portions 20, 20 which have substantially flat cartridge engaging lower surfaces 21, 21. The surfaces 21, 21 extend forwardly and rearwardly from the adjacent longitudinal edges of the front and back plate members, respectively, and terminate at the opposed or outer longitudinal edges of the plate members Ill, 11. The outer edges of the plate members 10, 11 are curled upwardly as shown at 22, 22 and have lugs 23 at the ends which form the attaching means 14. The lugs 23 are curled slightly back over the portions 20 to form hook members as can best be seen in FIGURES 3 and 4.

The front plate member 10 has fastened to the flange 15 thereof at its centre in the longitudinal direction an upwardly and slightly rearwardly projecting handle connector 24. The handle connector 24 may be welded or otherwise secured to flange 15, as shown, or as an alternative, it can be a lug formed from the same sheet of metal as the front plate member It). The operating handle 25 is fixed to connector 24 so that it extends upwardly and slightly rearwardly from plate members 10, 11 as shown in FIGURE 3. a

The loading handle 13 is connected to the upper side of back plate member 11 slightly to one side of connector 24, as is best shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, and is formed from a single rod which is bent to provide three portions 26, 27, 28. The first portion 26 is fixed to the upper side of the back plate member 11 and projects upwardly therefrom. The second portion 27 extends forwardly from portion 26 over the front plate member Ill) and curves around to the front of handle connector 24. The third portion 28 extends upwardly from portion 27 in front of and spaced from handle 25. A short coil spring is connected at one end to the upper side of front plate member 10 by an apertured lug 35 and at its other end to the second portion 27 of loading handle 13.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 6, the cartridge 18 is formed from two substantially rectangular panels 39 and 31 of flexible cloth-like material. The top panel which engages the lower surfaces 21, 21 of the plate members 10, 11 is formed of a wax impermeable material while the lower floor engaging panel is formed of a wax permeable material which may be a fine woven mesh of synthetic fibres capable of withstanding considerable rubbing on the floor. The panels, which are like oriented and of substantially the same size, are joined by a seam 32 also of a rectangular pattern immediately within the peripheries of the panels. A rectangular pocket formed by the seam between the panels 30, 31 is filled with a longitudinal extending charge 33 of paste wax, which charge assumes a rectangular shape of substantially oval cross-section, as shown in FIGURE 6, the major axis of the oval shape extending between the longitudinal edges of the panels 30, 31.

Tab portions 34, 34 are provided on the longitudinal edges of panel 3t), which tabs are turned under and secured to the lower surface of panel 31 by seam 32 to provide a longitudinally extending rod receiving loop at opposite sides of the cartridge.

When the flanges 15, 15 of the front and back plate members 10, 11 are close together as shown in FIG- URE 3 the surfaces 21, 21 define an obtuse angle of less than 180, i.e., a longitudinally extending cartridge receiving recess of concave cross-section. Thus, when a fresh cartridge is loaded into the applicator, the upper curved surface of the cartridge fits up into the recess as shown in FIGURE 3.

Thus, to load a new cartridge, plastic or wooden rods 36, 36 which are substantially the same length as the plate members 10, 11 are inserted through the loops at the side of the cartridge, and the handles 12 and 13 are gripped and squeezed together. This action, against the biasing action of spring 29, pivots the plate members 10, 11 together bringing flanges 15, 15 into contact. The ends of the rods 36, 36 projecting from the loops of the cartridge can be slipped over the upper ends of lugs 23. With the rods slightly above and inwardly from the outer longitudinal edges of the plate members 10, 11, the handles are released, and under the biasing effect of the spring 29 the flanges 15, 15 separate slightly, as shown in FIGURE 3, until the cartridge becomes taut.

With the cartridge held tautly in place the panel 31 rojects below the plate members 10, 11 and can be rubbed back and forth on the floor. By applying a downward pressure on handle 25, the cartridge 18 is squeezed between the plate members 10, 11 and the floor, so that wax is forced through the permeable panel onto the floor. The downward pressure also tends to separate the plate members and 11, which flattens the recess under surfaces 21, 21 and stretches the cartridge across its width. This action also forces the wax through the panel 31, so that the downward pressure applied to the handle 25 need not be great.

As the charge of wax is used up and the oval crosssection of the charge flattens, the width of the cartridge automatically increases, and this in turn permits the plate members to separate farther and farther until the angle between surfaces 21, 21 becomes at least 180 as shown in FIGURE 4. It is possible, therefore, to squeeze all of the wax from between the panels 30 and 31. Because of the presence of spring 29, the cartridge is held taut at all times so that it cannot become detached from the applicator.

When the cartridge is empty, it can be easily removed by squeezing handle 12 and 13 again until the cartridge becomes slack and then lifting the rods 36, 36 from behind lugs 23.

The operating handle and loading handle could be connected to the back plate member and front plate member, respectively, as an alternative to the arrangement shown in FIGURES 1 to 4. However, with the arrangement shown, it is convenient to tilt the device slightly backwards so that a greater proportion of the pressure is transmitted to the floor through the back plate member 11. With such a tilting action, the spreading force applied to the plate member is greatly increased, which in turn causes larger quantities of wax to be squeezed from the cartridge. It is, therefore, possible to be able to apply a thicker layer of wax over certain areas of the floor.

Other types of attaching means could be utilized in place of lugs 23, of course, such as snap fastener elements provided on the upper side of plate members 10, 11 for matching engagement with similar elements on tabs extending outwardly from the cartridge.

As previously indicated, the plate members may be pressed from sheet metal. In order to avoid any finishing steps after the plate members are formed during production of the device, the device is preferably coated with a soft plastic material which improves the appearance of the device and prevents marring of woodwork and furniture if accidentally bit during the polishing operation.

As an alternative to spring 29, other resilient means could be provided between flanges 15, 15 or a spring could be incorporated in hinge means 16 for urging the plate members to the position shown in FIGURE 4.

Although the cartridge 18 could be provided with a closable opening so that it could be refilled, it is believed desirable to design the cartridge for disposal. New cartridges are preferably distributed in sealed bags to prevent drying of the cartridges prior to use. The bags may be designed so that they could be utilized to store a partially used cartridge between waxing operations. If both panels are formed of a plastic material, it is possible to form the seam 32 by heat fusion.

In order to increase the usefulness of the device shown in FIGURES l to 4, it is possible to provide other elements which can be attached and used when waxing floors, An example of these other elements, namely a sponge element 40, is shown in FIGURE 7. The sponge element 40 simply comprises a block of sponge 41 fixed to a rectangular panel 42 of flexible material. The rectangular panel has a width which results in the panel being held taut by spring 29. Like the panel 30, panel 42 has tab portions forming longitudinal rod receiving loops along the sides thereof. After inserting rods 36, 36 in the loop, the sponge element 40 can be attached to the device shown in FIGURES l to 4 in exactly the same manner described in connection with the cartridge. The sponge element can be used, of course, for cleaning the floor prior to waxing, and a similar element carrying a buffing material can be provided for shining the waxed surface.

From the above, it can be readily seen that the present invention provides a useful device of extremely simple construction. Although the cartridge has been described as containing paste wax, liquid wax can also be used, it being only necessary to utilize a different type of permeable panel. In either case, it is possible to apply a very uniform coating to a floor with the device of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A device for spreading a floor finisher contained in a cartridge, said device comprising front and back plate members hingedly attached along adjacent transverse edges, said members having cartridge engaging bottom surfaces and being pivotable with respect to each other between first and second positions, said bottom surfaces defining an obtuse angle therebetween of less than when said members are in said first position and of at least 180 when said members are in said second position, cartridge attaching means carried by said members at the remote transverse edges thereof, a device operating handle fixed to and extending upwardly from one of said members, resilient means for biasing said members towards said second position, and a loading handle fixed to and extending upwardly from the other of said members, whereby movement of said loading handle relative to said operating handle moves said members to said first position against the bias of said resilient means.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, wherein said cartridge attaching means comprises at least two transversely spaced upwardly turned lugs at each one of the remote transverse edges of the members.

3. A device for spreading wax onto a surface from a wax pearmeable cartridge, said device comprising adjacent elongated front and back plate members, each plate member having an upwardly turned flange along an inner longitudinally extending edge thereof, hinge de fining means on the flanges pivotally connecting said plate members about an axis spaced above said plate members and parallel to the longitudinally extending edges, said front plate and back plate having cartridge engaging bottom surfaces projecting forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, from said flanges, said plate members being pivotable about said axis between first and second positions, said bottom surfaces defining therebetween an obtuse angle of less than 180 when said plate members are in said first position and an angle of at least 180 when said plate members are in said second position, each of said plate members having an outer longitudinally extending edge spaced from and substantially parallel to the inner edge thereof, cartridge attaching means on each plate member adjacent the outer edge thereof, resilient means arranged to urge said plate members toward said second position, and an upwardly extending operating handle fixed to said front plate member and inclined rearwardly of said device.

4. A device as defined in claim 3, further comprising a loading handle fixed to said back plate member, said loading handle consisting of a rod member having a first portion extending upwardly from said back plate member, a second,portion extending from said first portion forwardly over said front plate member, and a third portion extending upwardly from said second portion in front of and spaced from said operating handle, whereby said third portion of said loading handle and said operating handle may be gripped and squeezed together by hand to cause said plate members to move to said first position against the biasing of said resilient means.

5. A device as defined in claim 4, wherein said resilient means comprises a coil spring connected at one end to said front plate and at the other end to the second portion of said loading handle.

6. A floor wax spreading device comprising elongated front and back plate members hingedly attached about an axis along adjacent longitudinal inner edges, said plate members being pressed from sheet metal and coated with a soft plastic material, said plate members having cartridge engaging bottom surfaces extending forwardly and rearwardly from said adjacent edges and terminating at the outer longitudinal edges of the front and back plate members, respectively, said bottom surfaces of said plate members in a first position defining therebelow a longitudinal extending cartridge receiving recess of concave cross-section, said plate members being pivoted upwardly about said axis from said first position to thereby flatten the concaved recess and spread the outer longitudinal edges thereof, an operating handle fixed to and extending upwardly from one of said plate members, an elongated wax containing cartridge of substantially oval cross-section partially received in said recess in a manner such that the major axis of the oval cross-section extends between the outer longitudinal edges of said plate members, said cartridge being formed from an upper flexible panel in engagement with said bottom surfaces and a lower floor engaging panel of wax permeable material, said panels being joined substantially about the peripheries thereof to form a wax containing pocket therebetween and being attached along the longitudinal edges thereof to the plate members at the outer longitudinal edges of the plate members.

7. A floor wax spreading device comprising elongated front and back plate members hingedly attached about an axis along adjacent longitudinal inner edges, said plate members having cartridge engaging bottom surfaces extending forwardly and rearwardly from said adjacent edges and terminating at the outer longitudinal edges of the front and back plate members, respectively. said bottom surfaces of said plate members in a first position defining therebelow a longitudinal extending cartridge receiving recess of concave cross-section, said plate members being pivoted upwardly about said axis from said first position to thereby flatten the concaved recess and spread the outer longitudinal edges thereof, each of said plate members being provided with spaced upwardly projecting hooks at the outer longitudinal edge thereof, an operating handle fixed to and extending upwardly from one of said plate members, an elongated wax containing cartridge of substantially oval crosssection partially received in said recess in a manner such that the major axis of the oval cross-section extends between the outer longitudinal edges of said plate members, said cartridge being formed from an upper flexible panel in engagement with said bottom surfaces and a lower floor engaging panel of wax permeable material, said panels being joined substantially about the peripheries thereof to form a wax containing pocket therebetween, at least one of said panels of said cartridge forming a loop at the longitudinal edge thereof, and a pair of rods, the cartridge being attached to each plate member with one of the rods extending through said loop and hooked inwardly and above the longitudinal edge of the plate member by said hooks.

8. A floor wax cartridge for use with a hand applicator, said cartridge comprising a substantially rectangular flexible panel of wax impermeable material, a substantially rectangular flexible floor engaging panel of wax permeable material, said panels being similar in size and seamed together adjacent their peripheries to define an elongated closed pocket therebetween, a charge of wax of substantially oval cross-section completely filling said pocket, the major axis of the substantially oval cross-section extending across between longitudinal side edges of the panels, and applicator attachment means along each longitudinal side edge of said panels.

9. A cartridge as defined in claim 8, wherein the ap plicator attachment means comprises a longitudinally extending rod receiving loop formed by a tab portion formed on one of said panels and extending outwardly from the seam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 20,260 2/1937 Weller 15-561 1,526,455 2/1925 Beaudet 15-149 1,931,686 10/1933 Butcher 15-561 2,098,966 11/1937 Kingman 15-509 2,280,556 4/ 1942 Stromgren 15-561 2,384,219 9/1945 Vaughn 15-561 X 2,419,748 4/1947 Weber et al. 15-233 X 2,804,638 9/1957 Vosbikian et al. 15-149 X CHARLES A. WILLMUTH, Primary Examiner. E. ROBERTS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DEVICE FOR SPREADING A FLOOR FINISHER CONTAINED IN A CARTRIDGE, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING FRONT AND BACK PLATE MEMBERS HINGEDLY ATTACHED ALONG ADJACENT TRANSVERSE EDGES, SAID MEMBERS HAVING CARTRIDGE ENGAGING BOTTOM SURFACES AND BEING PIVOTABLE WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND POSITIONS, SAID BOTTOM SURFACES DEFINING AN OBTUSE ANGLE THEREBETWEEN OF LESS THAN 180* WHEN SAID MEMBERS ARE IN SAID FIRST POSITION AND OF AT LEAST 180* WHEN SAID MEMBERS ARE IN SAID SECOND POSITION, CARTRIDGE ATTACHING MEANS CARRIED BY SAID MEMBERS 